


Kintsukuroi

by MelissaMalinally



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Incest, Light Angst, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-10-22 05:00:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17656379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelissaMalinally/pseuds/MelissaMalinally
Summary: Sometimes, things are worth being repaired, no matter how long and hard it takes





	Kintsukuroi

**Author's Note:**

> So…here’s a funny story. I wrote this piece for a NejiHina week (2017) and I thought I had posted it on Tumblr but somehow, it didn’t appear there. And that was for the better, for it needed some serious editing, which I (think I) did
> 
> Now, this may seem familiar to the one Kalira69 (do check her account! Fantastic author!) wrote for the same event, and in a way, it is, but I swear, Kali, I’m not a copy cat! I swear it on my broken dreams’ grave!
> 
> And this story is published on fanfiction too, it's the same story.
> 
> I WOULD LOVE TO READ YOUR REVIEWS. FEEDBACK WILL BE MOST APPRECIATED AND USED IN FUTURE STORIES

_Glossary_  
Furoshiki: Traditional Japanese wrapping art using a piece of fabric  
Hitai-atte: head protector  
Kintsukuroi: (golden repair) Japanese traditional art that consists of repairing objects, mostly of porcelain. It embraces the damage in it by embellishing it with gold

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kinstukuroi

_The Hyuuga clan was like the remaining shards of some broken porcelain antique, all of them part of what once was one single object, but that had been a very long time ago, now they were only the pieces left. Their bond as a family consisted of remaining pilled in the same spot, waiting for fate to pick them up and change things for better or for worse..._

The Land of Iron, famous for its versatile techniques on metal and visited for many purposes linked to it by people from all around the world 

_“Excuse me, but Kintsukuroi is for pottery, not for dolls” responded the owner of the most successful business on this peculiar technique in the whole town_

_“Well then, I’ll look for someone else to do it, thank you” the stranger calmly said, turning over, ready to exit the local_

_“There is no someone else!” the man reacted proud and tall “we are the best in the village. If someone can do it, it’s us, but” he stopped, remembering the bunch of pieces inside the bag he had seen “these two are wrecked nearly to dust. It will be pricey and it will take many months, even more than a year”_

_“I am patient and I came prepared for your highest price”_

_1\. Hinata ___

Once, there were two dolls, one of a shinobi and one of a geisha, a gift from Hizashi Hyuga to his niece, on her third birthday. They really weren’t the finest work, even Hizashi didn’t think too highly of them, but for some reason, little Hinata favored them the moment they reached her tiny hands, amongst all of her other more valuable and better quality presents

For years she giggled and sang, raising them into the air and making them dance together; she invented a thousand stories of how the brave warrior rescued the fair damsel in that time, running around the Hyuuga compound, ignorant of the misery her house held. She dreamed of growing to be beautiful like the geisha, and brave like the shinobi

But at the age of eight, the dolls were taken away “you should worry about getting stronger, instead of playing like a little girl” her inflexible father said to her that day.  
She begged to have them back long and hard, promising to keep them only as an ornament and finally succeeded after two months of daily insisting. She received the dolls from her father and immediately placed them in the main shelf of her room, happy to have them back, even though she couldn’t touch them anymore

Until one day, she returned morally and physically exhausted to her room from training with her father, longing to see those little friendly faces and find some consolation, but they weren’t in their place; she immediately and desperately looked for them everywhere. She found what she was looking for in the front yard, held in her cousin Neji’s hands

“Ne-n-neji-nii-san, please give back the dolls to me” she asked with all the little courage she possessed  


“Life is not one of your fantasies, and it will never be, so you might as well grow up” he spat to her before smashing the dolls into the ground, delighted in her reddened face and the trails of her tears. 

She didn’t yell, nor accuse him, she didn’t make any questions… she didn’t make any sound at all; she just cried in silence and waited until he left her; then she picked up all the pieces, saying goodbye to every bit, one by one. 

She buried her dear friends in the nearest ground to her room, instead of discarding them for good, 

_2\. Neji_

Neji had resented her for a very long time, and a few years after the incident, his rage almost collected Hinata’s life in a match; because just like hers, his life had been tainted by the chaos of their disrupted family. 

He would’ve never guessed that shortly after that tragic day, life would present an opportunity for them to heal ancient wounds. And Hinata would be the one to reach and grab it with small trembling hands, getting closer to him as if he’d never intended wrong with her. 

It took some time for her to bring down his resistance, but little by little, in the course of ten years, a friendship was born between them. And he found strength in it as much as her. And he realized they both were stronger than hate and fear, than resentment and guilt, stronger than their personal and inherited tragedies; at one point, he even felt that their bond was stronger than the war they had to go through and almost tore them apart

After Hinata's father died due to his war injuries, Hanabi, her younger sister and the chosen to succeed her father with the leadership of the clan did the unthinkable and rejected her place as heir to yield it to her beloved sister

The elders reluctantly claimed Hinata as their new leader, looking for a real leader to marry her and save them from her soft head, but she refused every suitor; contrary to the whole clan belief, she turned out to be as firm as a mountain

_“How is the repairing going?” asked the stranger a long while after the commission_

_“It is doing mostly well, but there are missing pieces, and others are just too little or fragile to resist the procedure and they have to be removed. I hope this is not too much of an inconvenient” explained the artisan gingerly_

_“It is not, get rid of useless pieces as you judge it necessary, I’m confident of your work”_

_“Understood”_

Neji still couldn’t believe the story of how, one day, a servant opened the door to the hall where Hinata gathered with the elders and members of the Souke to receive yet another complaint about her methods as a leader, to find all the lords spread on the floor, unconscious, and she, drinking a cup of the same tea she gave to all of them, impassive to the mess around her, almost ignorant of their misery. 

She didn’t kill them as such, but none of them were able to live by themselves ever again. The secret of the torturing seal was sealed in their damaged brains and unspeaking mouths. No one ever found a scroll or a single clue on how to inflict pain through the cursed mark ever again.

_“They’re almost done; they just need a replacement for the lost pieces. Which material would you like to use?”_

_“This one, this is perfect, and one more thing…”_

After that, Hinata gave the cursed mark to all the people responsible for perpetuating the unfairness of having brothers and sisters treated like slaves, so they would never forget, every member of the Souke bore the green marks from that moment, including herself and her sister, who had absolute faith in Hinata, even on her most radical methods. The children, though, were spared, and a new era of freedom began for the Hyuuga clan 

It was bizarre for Neji to watch the once proud lords and ladies of the clan walk so belittled, so full of shame, hiding their whole faces within the curtains of their always long hair, and all the members of the bouke acting freely and full of joy, while Hinata got rid of her fringes and showed off her new marks to the whole world, walking tall and full of confidence like never before, as if she didn’t fear anything anymore.  


One night, after having a bath, like he always did after returning home from a long mission, Neji was untangling his wet hair in front of the mirror when he realized he had stopped staring at his forehead for over a month. He used to watch it almost every day, in fear, disgust, sadness, guilt, resentment, void… inevitably.

In that moment he decided two things, he would shut down any plan of vengeance on his cousin before it was even conceived, and he would stop using his hitai-ate* on his forehead. 

_3\. Together_

“Hinata-sama, may I speak to you?” he asked that very night. It was late, but he felt like it couldn’t wait

“Hai, Neji-nii-san, what is it?” she answered kind and gentle, pushing aside the last of her paperwork at her desk

“I need to ask your permission to stay in the compound and watch over you and the clan, and most especially, I want to observe the former Souke members” he firmly stated

“Do you have any suspicions on them?” she asked, without a trace of insecurity in her eyes

“Not yet, although it is important to notice any early sign of discontent before anything happens”

Hinata softly laughed beneath her hand “I don’t think they’re too content with what had happened but” she got serious “nii-san, you’re the right hand of Hokage-sama, I can’t ask you to stay locked in here now that you are free to do whatever you want”

“What I want to do is help change this clan too, that’s why I’m asking to do this. Kakashi-sama has Shikamaru, he will be all right. But I want to protect you, Hinata….sama” he said, blushing at his almost mistake

“Neji-nii-san” she blushed too “Thank you”

Just as he expected, there were some treason attempts, but all of them controlled easily thanks to his brilliant mind and eyes sharp as laser, and also to the union of the entire clan, conducted with her determination and love

Almost two years after such revolution, a package was delivered at the Hyuuga compound 

“Hinata-sama, I have something for you” he announced with the sweetest and most innocent smile somebody had ever seen on his face

“For me?” Hinata asked stopping her gardening. She was more surprised by his attitude than by the fact that he had a gift for her. Neji extended the package of the size of a shoe box, enveloped in a white and lavender colored furoshiki *. After wiping the dust off her hands with her handkerchief, she received it gingerly and full of curiosity. They went to sit on the garden bench, and carefully she opened the beautiful envelope and the wooden box in it; as she removed the top, her eyes filled with tears. Inside the box, laid the dolls from her most early childhood that she had buried next to her room in wrecked pieces. They were beautiful, even more than when she received them the first time. Golden veins traced their features on faces, necks, and hands. The attires were exactly as she remembered, the geisha with her delicate coiffure and her kimono, green with cherry blossoms, clean and perfect; the shinobi with his blue costume and wooden armor in his chest, arms, and legs, as if nothing ever happened through him; they both had pieces of jade embedded in different places but both foreheads had the same piece in the exact shape and place, right at the center. They seemed to bore them quite proudly too

Unable to help it, Hinata broke in tears. Neji patiently waited by her side while she liberated her mixed and overwhelming feelings, which took a while  


Once she felt calmer, but still sobbing, she asked “How did you know?” 

"That day I..." he started, wringing the fabric of his pants into his fists, his head lowered "I... saw you bury them in the garden after I… took them from you in such way… Hinata-sama… Please forgive me"

"Neji, there's nothing to forgive" she said earnestly "Thank you, you have no idea of what this means to me"

"It's me who should thank you” he responded returning his eyes to hers “You had changed so many things in my life"

"Oh, Neji, what I did was just…"

"I'm not talking about the clan, although I will be forever thankful for that as well"

She stared at him in confusion

"You changed my life with your kindness, every time you refused to push me away from you despite all of my offenses"

She took his face in her hands and kissed his lips briefly. A brief, spontaneous, natural moment, very Hyuuga unlikely “I’m sorry! Neji, I didn’t mean…!” she got terrified of her own deed and rushedly rose to run away. 

He held her hand before she could escape “Hinata”

\----------------------------------------------------------------

“Dad, why do mom’s dolls have golden wrinkles?” a little Hyuuga boy asked his father, staring at the two strange objects at his parents’ bedroom shelf  


“To remember that once they were shattered, but the effort that brought all the pieces together again, made them precious, invaluable” replied Neji affectionately  


“But I don’t get it, why weren’t they thrown away?”  


“Because sometimes, things are worth restoring, Noboru-chan” Hinata answered as she entered the room to join her husband and son “No matter how long and hard it takes. Don’t you think they are beautiful?”


End file.
